Pharr resident announces bid for Texas State Board of Education
Thomas Ray Garcia has announced his candidacy for the District 2 seat of the Texas State Board of Education.
The announcement marks Garcia’s second attempt for the seat following an unsuccessful bid in 2022.
“Thomas Ray Garcia is an educator, author, and entrepreneur from Pharr, Texas,” his announcement read. “He is the first Democrat to formally announce his candidacy for the most competitive State Board of Education race in Texas.”
Garcia was born in McAllen and raised in Pharr. He founded the College Scholarship Leadership Access Program, of which he currently serves as chairman on its board of directors.
In 2016, he earned his bachelor’s degree in English from Princeton University, where he co-founded the Princeton Hidden Minority Council.
Garcia earned his first master’s degree in English from the University of California – Los Angeles in 2020, where he taught courses in composition, literature and creative writing. He earned his second master’s degree in Higher Education Administration from the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley.
He is the author of the book “The River Runs: Stories” and the co-author of the historical memoir “El Curso de la Raza: The Education of Aurelio Manuel Montemayor.”
District 2 of the State Board of Education is made up of 14 counties including those of the Rio Grande Valley and along the Coastal Bend region.
L.J. Francis, a Republican, captured the District 2 seat after defeating the Democratic candidate Victor Perez with 194,792 votes, or 50.2%, over Perez’s 193,127 votes, or 49.8%. Of the 15 districts on the board, 10 are held by Republicans and five are held by Democrats.
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